Besse Cooper, the world’s oldest living person, marked her 116th birthday this weekend.

Besse Cooper was officially recognised as the world’s oldest living woman in 2010 (Picture: AP)

Surrounded by friends and family, Mrs Cooper celebrated at the nursing home in Monroe, Georgia where she now lives.The event might have been filled with balloons and birthday cake, however, according to her son Sidney Cooper, his elderly mother was keen to have a low-key occasion.Speaking to the Guinness World Records, Mrs Cooper revealed the secrets to her longevity.’I mind my own business and I don’t eat junk food,’ she commented.

Besse Cooper, the world’s oldest person, turns 116 (Picture: AP)

Her son, meanwhile, said ‘the older she has gotten the more wittier she has gotten’.

Mr Cooper said that despite her age, the supercentenarian had never undergone surgery, has ‘no major health problems’, taking very few medications.

Born in 1896 in Tennessee, Mrs Cooper moved to Georgia in 1917, marrying Luther Cooper in 1924 and having four children.

After the death of her husband in 1963 she never remarried and now has 12 grandchildren, as well as numerous great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren.

Mrs Cooper lived at home until the age of 105 when she was deemed too frail to do so and moved into a nursing home.

After the death of Brazilian-born Maria Gomes Valentin in June 2011, she was named the world’s oldest person.